


be like the snake that hides under a flower

by Haunted_Frost



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Gen, Multi, One Shot, Orochimaru (Naruto)-centric, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29047056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haunted_Frost/pseuds/Haunted_Frost
Summary: Naruto sends Orochimaru and his two sons back to the beginning of the Sannin. Through adoption and foreknowledge, Orochimaru sets things right.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Uchiha Obito, Hatake Sakumo/Orochimaru, Jiraiya & Orochimaru & Tsunade (Naruto), Log | Rogu & Orochimaru (Naruto), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Mitsuki & Orochimaru (Naruto), Mitsuki & Rogu | Log (Naruto)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 311





	be like the snake that hides under a flower

There were reasons he should not have remained alive. 

He went through all the same trials that killed people stronger than him. He made enemies of everyone. He was untrustworthy, slippery, amoral, inhuman—at least, that’s what they all said. He wouldn’t deny most of it, though he’d say most shinobi had the same qualities to one extent or another. 

And yet, he survived his teammates, their students, their children. He’s the one left standing in front of a bloody seal and a bloodier Hokage close to death, an entity of malice and greed for chakra on her way to destroy them both. 

And he’s the one that’s being asked to go back and _fix_ things, to take his children and run. That the seal will send them back in time, which is about the only way they can stop this. 

Orochimaru took Mitsuki and Rogu each by the wrist and nodded. His younger son glanced between Naruto and the seal before shifting and clinging tightly to his parent’s hand instead. 

“Do you know when you ’ll be sending us to?” the Sannin asked. Naruto shook his head. 

“Not exactly. Best estimate I can give you is during your own lifetime. You’ll replace your past self’s chakra and mind, and your sons will appear beside you. That’s the best I can offer.” 

Orochimaru nodded. 

“More than enough. I’ll stop this madness at its root.” Naruto grinned, and with a flare of chakra, the seal activated. In a feeling not unlike breaking a genjustu, chakra flared—and they were elsewhere entirely. 

They were—they were in Ame, and Hanzo was attacking, and they’d gone _far_ —

“Mitsuki, Rogu, stay out of sight as best you can. We are in Ame in the middle of a battle. Do _not_ engage, do you understand? I lived this battle once, and I can succeed again.”

The two of them glanced at one another before nodding at him and disappearing in a swirl of leaves. He smirked and turned to face the swirling poison he saw in the air. He quickly used a wind release—one Naruto had created with Sakura, to purify air for patients suffering smoke inhalation, when the forests caught fire—and made a barrier around himself with it before turning on Hanzo himself. The chakra drain was minimal, but it was certainly worth it to see the look of surprise on the man’s face. It gave Jiraiya the opportunity to dive forward and land some hits, only for Tsunade to take his place. 

This, he was certain, was not too dissimilar to the original fight. Perhaps faster. 

Still, it ended with them getting their title, and Jiraiya looking forlornly after the proto-Akatsuki. And that is when Orochimaru sensed his sons—he tilted his chin up, beckoning them from their hiding places. 

The children tensed, and Tsunade and Jiraiya turned curiously to face them. 

“Mitsuki, Rogu,” he said. “Thank you for staying put. We’ll talk on our way back to Konoha, yes?” Mitsuki tilted his head thoughtfully, but nodded. Rogu made an agreeing humming sound. 

Jiraiya looked over at the Ame orphans, and Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. 

“You’re going to stay with them, aren’t you?” he asked. He already knew this, but establishing what their goals were would at least give him a timeline.

“And who the hell are those two?” asked Tsunade, gesturing to their two newcomers. 

“More orphans you want to leave to die?” hissed Konan, glaring up at Orochimaru. Ah, he _had_ made that suggestion. 

“My words were hasty, and I care more about my teammates than strangers,” he responded. “I won’t apologize for trying to protect them. I care very much about these two, however, so perhaps I’m not so different from Jiraiya after all.” Tsunade and Jiraiya’s heads snapped to face him, eyes like saucers. 

“Did—did you just--?”

“I won’t pretend to be a stellar role model, but neither of you can claim to be either,” he continued. “I’m taking these two with me to Konoha. Don’t fight me on this.” Jiraiya put up his hands placatingly. 

“Whoa, no, that was not—when did you _find_ them?”

“You think I didn’t do my own exploring while you two were doing your own things?” he huffed. The first time around, he’d been studying scrolls at their camp, but he _had_ the information now, so he didn’t need to fake it later. Tsunade looked downright perplexed, but Jiraiya—

It was a look of commiseration. Something that, if he’d said aloud, would likely be along the lines of— _you can’t leave them behind either, huh_?

“We’re not even originally from here. We’ve travelled for a long time. I think we might be from Grass Country?” Rogu mused. “But Mitsuki has pretty much decided that Orochimaru is our parent now. And where my little brother goes, I follow.”

At this, Tsunade let out a shocked laugh. 

“ _Parent?_ ” she asked. 

“Rude,” Orochimaru said, though without any heat to it. “I’ll be an excellent parent. Ah, but these children—you don’t plan on coming back, so I suspect you’ll have us plead your case about not becoming a missing-nin?” he said, asking Jiraiya again. 

“. . . yeah, all right. You got me. I—I gotta stay.” 

“As long as you come back, we’ll have an excuse for Sensei. Don’t get lost,” Tsunade said, driving a teasing fist onto his head, mussing his hair. 

“Ah—hey, fine,” he grumbled. Orochimaru shook his head. 

“Don’t be too much of an idiot.” _Or I’ll drag you back myself._

“Ah,” he had one hand on his hip, the other scratching his head. “Fine, Oro. I’ll be all right.”

It was a quieter goodbye than the first time around.

* * *

“Okay, how the hell did you manage _kids_ while we weren’t looking, huh?” Tsunade asked as they set up camp. He cringed inwardly, knowing exactly what she was threatening with that tone. 

The boys were asleep. He sighed. 

“I was discussing with my summons about an experiment in my lab back in Konoha. Mitsuki, the younger one, wandered into the camp and questioned me on it. Rogu followed after, clearly not expecting his brother to approach me. We had a discussion, and—well. They started following me around town while I did errands.”

She glanced at the two sleeping forms beside them. 

“They look like you.” That would be difficult to explain away. Rogu had planted the seeds with the Grass Country comment, but it wouldn’t cover everything. 

“They do.” Better to neither confirm nor deny, not until they had a good story. His research on artificial life was not very far in this time, but—well. No one _knew_ that. He could easily recreate his notes and disrupt them as if they’d been stolen. Perhaps alongside his notes on the Sharingan and Mokuton—that could implicate Danzo. 

But that was left for later. Tsunade was looking at him with a fond smile. He turned his head away sharply—felt heat at his ears that wasn’t the campfire. 

She half-hummed, half chuckled. 

“Everyone thinks Jiraiya and I are the hotheads, but you’re just as impulsive,” she said. “Sensei’s gonna flip.” Orochimaru snorted. 

“I can think of plenty of people that will be unnerved at the idea of me with children.”

“You know that’s not what I meant—”

“No, I know. I’ll work it out, somehow.”

* * *

Hiruzen sighed, looking between the four figures in his office and wondering _what the hell._

“I have reason to believe there also might be a genetic relationship between us. I’d like to adopt them regardless,” Orochimaru said. _Was that a headache forming? Why did I ever think Orochimaru was the calm, sensible one?_

“All right, I’ll make sure to get you the forms,” he sighed. “And Jiraiya?”

“Found brats in Ame he wants to teach,” Tsunade replied. “He’ll be back once he’s sure they can take care of themselves.” Orochimaru nodded, confirming. 

“And . . . Rogu? Mitsuki? What will you two be doing here in Konoha?” he asked, because the teen and the child both had been silent beyond their own introductions. 

“I’d like to be a shinobi of Konoha. I’d be willing to take an examination to determine rank—I’ve picked up quite a few things over time, and Orochimaru has taught us some things as well,” Rogu replied. Mitsuki nodded. 

“Me as well—I’d probably not be very high rank, but I’d like to be on a team where I can be of help.” 

He wasn’t particularly surprised—genetics or not, Orochimaru likely wouldn’t have been interested in wandering civilian children. And something about his student was . . . different, with these children. So far, he seemed more comfortable than he had in almost as long as Hiruzen had known him. 

“We’ll work on that as well. Are you aware of shinobi ranks in Konoha?”

“More or less,” Rogu said. 

“What examination level would you prefer to try for, given your abilities?” he asked. No doubt chunin or jounin for the elder, the way he held himself, but the child was more difficult to pinpoint. 

“Jounin,” he replied. Mitsuki looked his brother up and down before facing the Hokage and smiling. 

“Genin, Hokage-sama.” That would certainly do, given the academy was graduating in two weeks. 

“I believe you’ll have time to settle before you’re assigned a team, which is scheduled for the last week of the month,” he said. “Let me get Morino on the paperwork and bring you the forms you need. I’m assuming they’ll live with you, Orochimaru?”

“Absolutely,” he agreed. 

“Good. The rest can be settled tomorrow at a more reasonable time. Rogu-kun, you will likely have your exam in about a week’s time, and Mitsuki will join his team in two weeks once you’ve all settled and things have been assigned at graduation. That will be all for tonight, then?” he said. 

Orochimaru and Tsunade nodded. 

“Well, then, goodnight.”

All four bowed and left. 

“Are you sure you’ll be all right? I could have one of you stay over at the Senju compound,” she asked, and Orochimaru shook his head. 

“That’s fine, Tsuna. We have room.” 

Once they’d all parted and the three had settled in Orohcimaru’s home, they began planning. He informed his children of his idea on cloning to account for their genetic similarities, and how it would assist with the idea that someone was interested in his research on taboo topics. 

They’d have Tsunade do a routine check-up, which would include a blood test for the sake of clan politics, and when she found the match, he’d go “looking” for his notes. Which he’d have to recreate in the meantime—he’d leave a clone at home to do so while he shopped for things with his children. 

At long last, they all slept, safe enough, at home.

* * *

During their trip about the market, they encountered one face Orochimaru had long forgotten—Sakumo Hatake. Now _that_ was one of Danzo’s manipulations that he’d almost forgotten. Not one that had begun just yet, but certainly one that had his attention already. The man looked dead on his feet, walking aimlessly, so Orochimaru saddled up to him. 

“Hatake,” he said, and his children flanked him. Sakumo blinked, looking between them. 

“Ah—Orochimaru. And—?” They introduced themselves as his children, and the man laughed. 

“Huh! I’m surprised at you, Oro,” he said with a half-grin, “I always thought you’d be more interested in jutsu than in the next generation.” 

“Yes, well—I won’t live forever. Best be sure that there will be others to carry on after me. We were just shopping for things for the boys’ rooms. Would you like to join us, or are you occupied?” 

Sakumo blinked. 

“Ah—I don’t have anything to do at the moment, no. I’m on leave, since my wife’s due date is close.”

“Excellent—some time out of the house will do you some good, no?”

And they began shopping—it was certainly helpful to reacquaint Mitsuki and Rogu with Konoha, which was obviously a different layout than they remembered. 

“You’re going to have a child soon?” asked Mitsuki. He nodded. 

“Yes—within the next couple of weeks, hopefully. We’re thinking of naming them Kakashi if it’s a boy, or Nana if it’s a girl.” They continued chatting for a while, gathering supplies for the house. Befriending Sakumo was probably a good idea, if he swung it right—the man was dependable, and in need of a friend later on. And honestly, Orochimaru needed a friend that wasn’t in a grave in his memory. It would stabilize him mentally, which he probably needed.

* * *

He and Mitsuki attended Rogu’s examination, wherein Orochimaru gave the Hokage his report on just what his two sons’ backstories would be. His cloning and Edo Tensei notes missing, the DNA testing to prove a match, and all the rest. His sensei’s face hardened at the implications. 

“They stole your research and used it?”

“Yes, though from what I can understand, the two of them broke away from whoever it was when they were young or were abandoned. For all intents and purposes—”

“You’re their father,” Hiruzen said, and he didn’t wince so much as sigh, resigned. 

“Their . . . parent. I could be considered mother or father. I . . . don’t particularly feel like either.” A hum. 

“Kagami was the same,” he mused, “Though he leaned more towards being male. And yourself?”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” he shrugged. 

This was something that was more because of his future experiences than his past ones, but it was no less truthful—and, if he really thought about it, he might have considered the possibility regardless. 

“Thank you for sharing this with me,” the Hokage said, and Orochimaru knew it wasn’t just for the report. 

Rogu, of course, passed to jounin with flying colors. 

* * *

Mitsuki’s jounin instructor was an Inuzuka kunoichi that Orochimaru vaguely remembered. He wondered if the timeline would be too disrupted to have useful information—no, the ripples of his own actions wouldn’t reach quite everywhere yet. 

No, now he focused on Mitsuki’s two genin teammates—a young Hyuuga Hizashi and Uchiha Momo. He wasn’t entirely sure about the matchups, but it hardly mattered just yet. Their jounin instructor stopped by Orochimaru where he was in the jounin standby station shortly after their arrangements had been finalized. 

“Orochimaru-sama,” she said, “You’re Mitsuki’s parent, correct?”

“Correct.”

“I’m Inuzuka Touka, and I’m going to be his jounin instructor. Well,” she sighed. “I don’t know who thought putting the two great doujutsu clans and a child sage on one team was a good damned idea, but here we are. I came to ask you a bit about Mitsuki—the record only says so much; as the parent you’d know more.”

He nodded. 

“He’s very level-headed and capable, matter-of-fact—he certainly wants to be independent, but he hasn’t found what his ultimate goal is going to be.” She nodded. 

“Hizashi is the younger twin to the clan heir. You know how both of those clans are—perhaps having a child with no clan history may balance them. And Momo is a very driven kunoichi as well . . . hm. Thank you, Orochimaru.”

* * *

The next issue to face was Danzo, and frankly, Orochimaru didn’t know what to do with him. Because though he hadn’t yet recruited him for experimentation, the worst he’d done was still treason. He wasn’t sure Hiruzen would side with him—his once-student over an old friend—but if he presented enough evidence, he might get somewhere. Clan children were already being taken, so that might be enough if he informed the clan heads first. 

Or, he could take a page out of Naruto’s book, and go ridiculously public. That might be fun, after all. If he wasn’t going to indulge in drama to escape the village, he could certainly indulge to save it. 

* * *

With Rogu on jounin duties to establish himself, and Mitsuki playing mediator in the middle of one of the longest-standing rivalries of the village, he was confident they’d keep themselves busy. Orochimaru found himself alone more often than he had anticipated. He had yet to take in Anko or Kabuto—only one of them had even been born yet—but that didn’t mean he couldn’t begin to teach. He watched Nawaki, assisted Tsunade at the hospital, and met Sakumo for tea and helped him with infant Kakashi. His mother, unfortunately, had complications during the birth that not even Tsunade herself could fix. 

He took missions, of course, but that didn’t quite fill his days. Contingency upon contingency worked against Danzo acting, but he had yet to compile enough evidence on its own. 

Minato visiting him was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one entirely. Orochimaru didn’t see himself becoming Hokage, not this time, but if he made himself an option as an advisor . . . that would certainly give him more leeway to change things. 

“Orochimaru-san?” he asked. “Do—do you know by chance when Sensei will come back? He said he’d teach me to summon when he did.” The mop of blonde nearly had him thinking of whisker-marks and the color orange, but Minato was a calmer presence than that. 

“Hm—it depends. I sent a message through summons to remind him that for all Tsunade and I could cover him, he really needs to return in order to not be a missing-nin. If he actually reads it, within a week or so. If he doesn’t, I suspect by the end of the month, because I’ll drag him here.” Minato blinked. 

“Really?”

“The idiot can take care of himself to an extent, but I’ll still drag him home if needs must. In the meantime, is there anything I can do for you, Namikaze-kun?” The blonde blushed, but he nodded vigorously. 

“Oh, I was working on a seal—I know Jiraiya’s more the seal master, and I tried to talk with Kushina on it, but she said her style doesn’t mesh with what I’m trying to do? Anyway, I was studying the Nidaime’s Hiraishin, and—”

“I do think I have some copies of his notes down in my lab,” Orochimaru interrupted, standing up and turning. He did, in fact, have some copies that weren’t accessible to the public—copies that Jiraiya would no doubt give his student, were he here, anyway. 

“Come along, Namikaze-kun. Just don’t touch anything without permission, hm?”

Perhaps the Yellow Flash would gain his nickname a little earlier than expected.

* * *

When Jiraiya did return, he found Orochimaru at home, taking care of a baby Kakashi while Sakumo was at a therapy session. Jiraiya stared for a few moments, jaw dropped, as he took in the sight. 

“Did you adopt _another_ kid?” he asked, which he most certainly had not. 

“Hatake asked me to watch him while he’s out. Being a single parent has its difficulties, as I know, so I agreed to watch Kakashi here.” Jiraiya shook his head, a soft smile on his face. 

“He’d fit right in, you know,” Jiraiya chuckled, and Orochimaru rolled his eyes in lieu of answering. 

“Orochimaru-sensei, I think I fixed the—Jiraiya-sensei!” Minato yelped, having barged in. Jiraiya blinked. 

“Orochimaru-sensei? Oro, did you _steal_ my student?!”

“Ah, well, he’s been helping me with some seal stuff while you were gone—I’m making real progress on the Hiraishin!”

Jiraiya deflated in the midst of Minato’s enthusiasm. He had left the boy behind, after all, no matter how short the time had been. A deserved reason to feel guilt, at least. Still, he puffed up with pride in his student. 

“That’s amazing, Minato-kun! Care to catch me up on your progress? I was planning on talking to you about the Toad contract, regardless—”

And with that they were chattering endlessly. Kakashi started fussing, and Orochimaru hushed him. 

“They’ll never shut up, I know,” he said. 

“Bah,” the baby version of the famed Copy Nin replied.

* * *

A year later found Rogu splitting shifts between ANBU and T&I. Orochimaru was pleased, but unsurprised with his son’s success. Mitsuki began preparing for the chunin exams, hosted in Konoha. 

(He intended to look into the potential security measures that could be taken to keep an invasion from happening, in the meantime. Honestly, he had hardly needed to fall back on backup plans when he’d done so. To think that another could take those same precautions and kill _his_ son—well.

It wouldn’t happen.)

Mitsuki had found himself the peacekeeper between his teammates more often than not, but something had happened on their C-Rank mission—a particularly rough injury on Mitsuki’s part, which had the rivalry become more competitive, less vicious. The two of them even seemed to relax the stiffness that their respective clans had trained them into. 

He glanced at the various genin from Konoha and other villages alike, and was struck by how few were familiar, but how those that were were _incredibly_ so. Hyuuga Hiashi was with his team as well, and whatever changes had come brought the Ame orphans as another foreign team. 

Perhaps his near apology to them had made them less distrustful of the Leaf on the whole?

Whatever the reason, Jiraiya was overjoyed—all his students in one place. He immediately took them all away from the village proper to celebrate and introduce them. 

Minato being friendly to Nagato, who could have been the one to destroy the village, was truly a sight. What was even better was Kushina pouncing on Yahiko, proclaiming his very obvious Uzumaki heritage, which was not obvious to anyone else beyond the red hair. Later, Tsunade did a DNA test, and it was true—Kushina was cousins of a sort with the young man, who was happily bewildered throughout his encounter with her. Konan and Nagato both cheered on their friend in getting to know his distant relative. 

The first round was some sort of capture-the-flag type of game—the first stage required each team to hide flags somewhere on a training ground, while the second stage required them to defend their flag and steal other teams’ flags. Orochimaru watched Mitsuki’s team, Hiashi’s team, and Nagato’s team make it to the next round with ease, along with a few other teams. 

The second round was a chakra puzzle game for information gathering. Laughably easy for, say, a Nara. Not so for any hotheaded bastards that thought they could get through with strength alone. Still, the teams he was tracking the most closely made it through, and then through prelims without trouble. He was quite satisfied to watch Mitsuki trounce a Kusa genin with a particularly vicious genjutsu. Rogu had cheered perhaps a bit too enthusiastically—he was getting stares from his fellow jounin, which he shrugged off. 

The time between the second two portions of the exam was supposed to give them a break and time to train. Villages differed on how they held the exams, but the last round was always some form of tournament, both to prove the strength of their villages and to more individually observe candidates. Konoha always had a break between rounds, which was both good for recovery and terrible on the mind for anticipation if one didn’t plan their training accordingly. Mitsuki had planned his training well enough—he’d be facing Konan in the first round, of all things, followed by the winner of a match between Uchiha Momo and a Suna nin named Yashamaru. 

Every plan is destroyed upon first contact with the enemy, and they’d been complacent about their most immediate enemy.

It was Danzo’s attempt to recruit Mitsuki into ROOT that sealed the final nail into his coffin. His son had come home distressed, shaking his head when asked what was wrong, clearly looking like there was something he wanted to say, but _couldn’t._ Orochimaru was too familiar with the particular set of restrictions not to already know what was coming. He gestured for Mitsuki to open his mouth, and he complied—

A silencing seal on his tongue, close to the back of his mouth. Hm. 

“I’m going to take you to Jiraiya, and we’re going to fix this,” he said. Mitsuki nodded. Jiraiya happened to be in the Hokage’s office, giving an account on the foreign team leaders and dignitaries that were in village at the time. 

“Jiraiya, someone has put a seal on Mitsuki’s tongue. I don’t know if it’s a prank or something sinister, but I trust you’d be able to remove it,” he said. Jiraiya crouched immediately, gesturing for Mitsuki to show him what had Orochimaru leaking killing intent everywhere. 

Hm. Normally he was more controlled about that sort of thing. Oh well. If he killed Danzo in a protective rage, sensei could appreciate that at least, right?

“It’s a silencing seal,” Jiraiya said. “I can break it. Here.” He flared his chakra as he began to work. Finally, Mitsuki coughed. 

“Shimura Danzo-sama asked me to speak with him, but only if I promised to keep silent about it,” Mitsuki explained. “I don’t think he expected for Oro-san to notice anything wrong because I’m fairly quiet in public, and he assumed I was the same at home. He attempted to recruit me for a secret division of ANBU, claiming that it was for highly skilled young ninja that wished to serve the village at a higher level. I did not like the way he was asking me. I told him no, and he grabbed me and put the seal on my tongue. I told him no again, but he insisted that at some point I should agree if I wanted to be a loyal shinobi.” Jiraiya’s eyes blazed with fury, and huh, now Orochimaru wasn’t the only one leaking killing intent all over the office. 

“Peace, Jiraiya. I will deal with whoever tries to harm my son,” he said. Hiruzen frowned. 

“For Danzo to do this—I’m surprised at my old friend.” Orochimaru _carefully_ did not snarl. 

“I’m not. Permission to investigate him with extreme prejudice, sensei, and to report my findings to the police, clan heads, council, and yourself?” He wasn’t going to allow his sensei’s sentimentality influence the end of the old warhawk’s scheming. Hiruzen paused, a troubled furrow in his brow. But he looked down at Mitsuki, who was tense in a way Orochimaru had not seen him be since their arrival in the past. 

“Permission granted,” he said, and Orochimaru waited until they left to grin victoriously. Instead, for now, he nodded. 

“Let’s go home,” he told his son, “and let Rogu and Sakumo know you’re all right now, hm?”

“Oro,” Jiraiya called as he turned to leave. “If you need an assist on the arrest, let me know.” Orochimaru nodded, swept his son up, and leapt from the window.

* * *

The first match was one that mirrored a future match that might never be—Hiashi versus Hizashi Hyuuga, in the place of their respective children. Hiashi, being the clan heir of the main house, eventually won. 

Orochimaru didn’t even pretend not to preen when Mitsuki beat Yahiko, but he did at least not send any smug looks over at Jiraiya. After that was Konan versus Yashamaru, a Suna nin who, while competent, was no match against her paper techniques. The Ame orphans were shaping up to be quite powerful. Nagato cleanly defeated Momo, and he hadn’t even activated the Rinnegan for it. 

Mitsuki wasn’t deterred by Hiashi like he might have been with his own teammate. In fact, his snake summon technique helped him overwhelm the Hyuuga very quickly, and he seemed to do it with extreme prejudice besides. While Mitsuki was calm and cheerful throughout the match, Hiashi became more frazzled and uncertain as it went. 

It was an uncomfortable echo of Naruto fighting another Hyuuga. Honestly, he’d barely even paid attention to that match when he posed as the Kazekage, and yet he recalled it with decent clarity. Following that was Nagato versus Konan—a valiant effort on both of their parts to show off, but Konan surrendered before anything actually threatening came up, a wistful smile on her face. 

Mitsuki versus Nagato. Orochimaru finally stole a glance at Jiraiya, who was staring down at the ring with his hands folded under his chin. This would be interesting. 

“Five hundred ryo on my son,” Orochimaru said. 

“You’re on,” Jiraiya said with a wild grin. 

(Rinnegan or not, Mitsuki had the advantage for most of the fight, and Nagato forfeit when the chakra drain was too great.

“Pay up.”

“Shut up.”)

* * *

The years turned. 

Meanwhile, Mitsuki decided that being a paper ninja and a teacher was his path, and Rogu took charge of the ANBU division that had once been ROOT, integrating them with the rest and helping them deprogram. Orochimaru still took some precautions to lengthen his lifespan—he wasn’t suddenly some saint that would deprive himself of life—but he didn’t resort to methods that were beyond the scope of a skilled, loyal shinobi of the Leaf. Pity, that—Edo Tensei had been a beautiful thing. He developed it in theory, of course. Needs must, and all, just in case. 

A tiny Anko braved his lab, and he let her learn under him. Tenzou, too, approached him warily with questions about experimental jutsu in an attempt to figure out his Mokuton. Rogu brought Kabuto from his Not-ROOT-Anymore division and dropped him off. 

(Jiraiya couldn’t make fun of him for the pseudo-adoptions; he had the Ame trio and Minato to still hold over his head.)

So many things sustained themselves, but some things _did_ change after all. For example, Sakumo. 

They’d begun a friendship during Kakashi’s infancy, and that had developed further into a rather unconventional romance. Two swordsmen, last of their clans, shunned at one point or another by the village they were loyal to—there was a certain symmetry about it, Orochimaru supposed. 

For all his work behind the scenes, he hadn’t been able to prevent or stop an entire war, not at the drop of a hat. He _was_ able to be selfish about the people he lost, though. He kept Sakumo sane and padded missions he knew to be deadly with extra shinobi when he had the authority to. Rogu even managed to save Nawaki’s life, and Dan was only ever injured, not killed. Zetsu and Danzo had power, sure—Danzo’s, however, was on a timer as soon as Orochimaru had compiled all the necessary evidence, and Zetsu didn’t know his opponent was even working against him yet. 

Sakumo didn’t seem to mind Orochimaru’s lack of ability to turn off the deadly shinobi persona in social situations. He even seemed to _like_ it. 

Minato still ended up the sensei to a young Kakashi, Obito, and Rin. Orochimaru knew that the Kannabi bridge mission was still in the works—had heard his sensei plan it with Minato. He knew what was to become of Obito, should he be left to his own devices. 

“Could Mitsuki tag along, by chance? He’s in between large projects at the moment,” Orochimaru asked. Minato frowned. 

“Are you sure? Does he know you’re offering?”

“He doesn’t know, but he would likely agree with me. If he doesn’t, then your previous four-man cell will be sufficient.” He summoned Aoda to bring Mitsuki the message. With a swirl of leaves, his son appeared in the office. 

“I would like to join this mission, Hokage-sama,” he said. Orochimaru had told both of his sons about the last version of this mission, and he trusted Mitsuki to get the right thing done. 

Kakashi’s recent promotion should have tipped him off that the mission was happening, regardless—but he was certain that he wouldn’t need to interfere immediately. 

* * *

Kakashi came home with a covered eye, and Orochimaru wasnot entirely surprised. Mitsuki wasn't nearly as troubled as he’d be if Obito had actually died—Rin, Minato, and Kakashi were giving his son a wide berth, given his odd calm. 

“What did you do?” Orochimaru asked. 

“Tagged him with a tracking seal,” Mitsuki said. “Just in case Madara moves him around. I kept most of the assassins off of us and alerted Minato as soon as the cave collapsed. He was probably in the middle of a fight, so he couldn’t return immediately.”

“Hm, thank you. I’ll go to take care of it.” Mitsuki raised a brow. 

“Rogu should probably do that. Maybe bring Tenzou. Your absence would be a lot more noticeable, especially since we’ve kept Tsunade in-village and haven’t broken any major laws.”

Orochimaru sighed. 

“Being an upstanding shinobi has so much more red tape. I concede—Rogu, would you lead a mission to retrieve Obito? I’ll pay it out, say it’s for Kakashi’s and the Uchiha clan’s sake to have his body and his Sharingan, all that.”

“Yes, Oro-san.”

* * *

Tenzo wasn’t sure what the hell Rogu was doing. 

“We literally just won this area; I don’t understand why going for a body is necessary,” said his fellow chunin, Genma. Rogu shrugged. 

“You know the Uchiha are protective of their Sharingan. That, and my parent was concerned about his partner’s son—he was Obito’s friend, and he wasn’t taking the death well. Having the body would ease some of that, I think.”

“Then why aren’t we going to the site?” asked Tenzo. 

“Mitsuki placed tracker seals on his whole team before they left. We’re following the seal. Someone already had the stealing-the-body idea, apparently.” The two of them stopped complaining at that. 

Needless to say, Zetsu had _not_ prepared for an enemy ambush, much less one that was actually well-matched for him. Tenzo was talented with Mokuton already, Rogu was well aware of how Madara was still surviving, and Genma had a level enough head to follow through with the ensuing fight. Once Rogu had disconnected Madara from the Gedo Mazo, Genma swept forward and decapitated him. Then, they all turned their focus on Zetsu, who Tenzo had been countering fairly well on his own in the meantime. A great deal of fire jutsu and cutting blades left the black half dead and the white half withering away. 

A few moments later found them in a lab, split between poring over correspondence between Madara, Zetsu, Danzo, Hanzo, and various other figures, and checking over Obito, who was unconscious and sporting a strange prosthetic but was uninjured. Madara hadn’t needed to hide evidence like Danzo had, which was going to help their investigation immensely. 

Genma took that moment to freak out. 

“We just—was that what I thought it was?”

“Did you just kill Madara? Yes,” said Rogu, a tiny smirk on his face. “Now, how do you feel about that, huh?”

“ _What the fuck_?” Genma said. “I just killed Uchiha Madara!”

Tenzo and Rogu removed the IV drip that was keeping Obito under. 

“He’ll be awake in about twenty minutes,” Tenzo murmured. “Genma, you should take care of the bodies. I’ll take care of Obito.”

“And I’ll handle the rest,” Rogu nodded.

* * *

“We need Team Seven here for the report,” said Rogu. “Oro-san is tending to the injuries of the others, but I have the relevant information and they’ll return before my report is over. There’s—more than we expected,” he admitted. Sarutobi raised a brow. 

“Is that so?”

“Well, first of all—Obito’s body was not where he died.” A grimace. 

“Then we should have them here,” the Hokage agreed. “Yak, go retrieve Minato, Kakashi, and Rin. They’ll need to hear this.” 

They waited a moment and the ANBU guard returned, Rin and Minato in tow. 

“And Kakashi?”

“At the memorial stone,” Rin explained. “It seemed rude to interrupt. He said he’d be along in a minute.”

Rogu repressed an annoyed sigh. He wouldn’t need to _be_ at the memorial stone in a moment. 

“Right. May I begin my report, Hokage-sama?”

“Begin, Rogu.”

“Mitsuki placed a tracker seal on everyone on the mission to be sure no one got captured,” he began. He continued, explaining that Mitsuki noticed that Obito’s body was on the move, and so as not to cause too much disturbance, Orochimaru asked for the mission. It was then that Kakashi appeared, not saying a word. Rogu continued, describing that they followed Mitsuki’s tracking seal to the Mountain Graveyard, where they came upon Zetsu and Madara’s hideout. The fight was quick and Madara was dead and sealed away in a scroll as proof. Rogu continued to explain that there was an entire medical lab and documents strewn across an office space, and offered the documents to Hiruzen. 

“They include letters from Danzo, Hanzo, various figures in Suna, Iwa, Kumo, and Taki, and Madara. It looks like this war was manufactured mostly by their pulling the strings.” 

Minato’s glare at the letters could have burned a hole through them. 

“And finally, we also found Obito on the cot in the lab. Some kind of prosthetic was attached to his body—made of similar material to the things that were using Mokuton against Tenzo. We brought him to Oro-san since regular doctors probably won’t know what to do with it, but he’s alive.”

At this, Kakashi loudly choked and Rin gasped. 

“Obito’s alive?” asked Minato tentatively. 

“He’ll be here with Tenzo and Genma any minute, once Oro-san gives him the medical okay,” Rogu confirmed. 

Like he’d commanded it, Genma and Tenzo appeared in the office, Obito in a medical gown in tow. 

“Oh hell,” said Rin, putting a hand to her mouth. 

“Hey, everyone,” Obito croaked with a wry grin. “I’m alive. Sorry I’m late?”

* * *

Kakashi clung to Obito in the following weeks, not daring to let his friend out of his sight. Obito was bewildered but happy about it, ultimately. He teased Kakashi on it, and Sakumo would tell Orochimaru over tea how adorably helpless his son’s crush was becoming. 

“And the Uchiha is oblivious as hell,” Orochimaru guessed. The Obito-that-wasn’t-Tobi was an actual knucklehead, not just playing at it, so the whole thing was unsurprising. 

“I mean, your sons are no better,” Sakumo pointed out. “I hear Rogu has been quite oblivious to Yamanaka Isamu’s attempts to ask him out.” Orochimaru shrugged. 

“I never said my sons were excluded from that. Mitsuki is rather frank about it, though—I imagine he’ll have to find someone as patient as you to handle his feelings well, given our similarities.” Sakumo’s entire face bloomed in a red flush. 

“I—well—”

* * *

This time, Orochimaru might have still created Tenzo, might have started his own experiments, but he had yet to transfer over to Danzo’s labs and had Madara’s correspondence to nail Danzo’s metaphorical coffin shut. Hiruzen’s face hardened at reading the letters and nodded when Orochimaru offered to gather the clan heads, particularly a young Fugaku and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Storming his ROOT base left only three ROOT agents incapacitated, a new scar across Chouza’s face, and Danzo missing his stolen Sharingan with Fugaku standing and huffing in a barely-contained rage. 

“And to think he was conspiring with Madara,” Orochimaru mused. “What a waste of a talented shinobi.” 

“Who’s the waste? Madara or Danzo?” asked Inoichi. 

“Both.”

* * *

The plethora of ROOT agents were up in the air in the system—the Yamanaka were scrambling with them in T&I, and Hiruzen and Minato were meeting with clan heads left and right to try to mitigate the hell storm of issues that had arisen. The clan kids, once evaluated, had places to go. No, what they were fighting over was much more delicate.

What to do with the traumatized orphan shinobi?

It wasn’t that they wanted to kick the kids out or have them locked up—but with an influx of shinobi children that frankly civilians couldn’t handle and with the clans already taking in more of their own than they suspected they had, tossing around the kids from home to home wasn’t going to fly. 

Orochimaru sighed, looked at Sakumo who nodded at him, and volunteered to foster. Between Hatake estate and Orochimaru’s own holdings, they’d likely be fine.

* * *

“Shin, Sai, Kabuto,” Tenzou scolded, “What are you doing? I told you three not to start poison experimentation in the kitchen again. Ah, _no_ , the pufferfish is really poisonous, I know Kiri has fancy dishes with it but only professionals cook with it. Now put those down and wash your hands.”

Tenzou had become quite the brother-figure to the younger ROOT agents almost immediately, and while Rogu didn’t tend to like spending time with them, they certainly followed Mitzuki and Tenzou around like ducklings. 

Genma came over more often than not with his teammate, Raidou (and killing Madara had gotten him a hefty promotion and bonus for the mission, so they had plenty of free time) to visit with Rogu. Orochimaru filed that information away to speak with Sakumo about as well.

Without Zetsu’s machinations, the war and the village settled a lot more quickly. Tensions still held between Konoha and other nations, but without one particular instigator, it would be some time before any new fighting took place. 

Minato Namikaze became Hokage and offered Orochimaru a place as head of Research. Jiraiya was placed as spymaster. Tsunade was given orders to return to the village regularly. Hell, even the birth of Naruto didn’t end in disaster—the Kyuubi did break down its seal, but with Orochimaru working with Kushina in the weeks beforehand, they managed to split the Kyuubi as it exited, sealing one half back into her and the other half into the infant. 

No one died that night. Another victory. 

One of many, Orochimaru suspected. 

**Author's Note:**

> I did it again, an Orochimaru-centric fix-it. This one's a bit more serious than my other one, but I wanted to post it regardless. I love little Mitsuki from what I know of him, so having Parent!Orochimaru take the place of a younger version of himself is amusing to me. Suddenly, all the children from ROOT have a snake summons guarding them, whether they know it or not . . . Idk it's just fun to me. 
> 
> Have a good day!


End file.
